A woman attempted blackmail the day Alain Berset appeared in front of 850 children. The matter soon came to a head.
Published: 11/22/2020, 10:32 PM—
–Federal Councilor Alain Berset celebrated November 20, 2019 carefree: On Children’s Rights Day, he received school classes on Bundesplatz.
Photo: Marcel Bieri (Keystone)
November 20, 2019 seems to have been a carefree day for Alain Berset. Pictures show the Federal Council cheering in front of and in the midst of 650 schoolchildren on the Bundesplatz in Bern. On International Children’s Rights Day, which was celebrated with many selfies, an attempt to blackmail the Swiss Interior Minister, who now, a year later, Makes the headlines.
Federal Council not informed
The matter is likely to be new for the members of the state government, at least they have not officially heard from their colleague. “Alain Berset did not inform the Federal Council about the blackmail attempt,” explains his spokesman, Peter Lauener, “because it is a private matter.”
The blackmailer recently accepted a penalty order from the federal prosecutor’s office, in which the case history is roughly traced. Just on Children’s Rights Day, the woman, whose identity is not disclosed in the document, opened a bank account and the next day another one. Then she wanted to deposit 100,000 francs, which Berset should pay her.
“You could easily put the photo on Instagram.”
In an email, she threatened the SP Federal Council with making alleged events public. She attached – as the Federal Prosecutor wrote – on the one hand “personal correspondence between the two and on the other hand photos of the injured person”.
According to Berset’s lawyer Patrik Eisenhut, it is only “a single photo that shows the face and only the face of Mr. Berset”. He adds: “You could easily put it on Instagram.”
Escalation over weeks
In the following days the situation escalated noticeably. The blackmailer wrote to the interior minister that third parties were also interested in acquiring the originals. But Berset would be given priority. On November 25, she then threatened to “put everything on the table” if Berset reported her.
The Federal Council refrained from filing a complaint for two more weeks. Why?
“At the beginning it was unclear who was behind the blackmail attempt,” explains lawyer Eisenhut, and «how serious the situation was». It was his job «to clarify this and collect evidence ». He had “also warned the perpetrators in writing and asked them to stop their actions immediately”.
Instead, the woman suddenly made an additional charge against Berset. The lawyer for the Federal Council arranged a meeting with the blackmailer for December 13th – and filed a criminal complaint.
The woman was arrested on the day for which she had hoped for 100,000 francs. The police arrested her at 7:40 a.m. and did not release her until eight hours later.
The accused withdrew
When questioned, it turned out that she had backed off the day before. She had sent Berset a letter in which she dismissed the allegations and demands and delivered the originals of the attachments to her first email. The letter did not reach Berset until four days later.
The withdrawal has a positive effect in criminal proceedings. The accused got away with a fine of 900 francs and a conditional fine of 150 daily rates of 30 francs each, trial period two years. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office had “data that are suitable for committing recent, similar offenses” deleted before they returned the confiscated cell phones and laptop to the woman.
The “Weltwoche”, which made the blackmail attempt public on Saturday, raises the question of whether the judiciary acted correctly. According to criminal law professor Marcel Niggli, such deletion is “basically permissible”: “All items that were used for a crime can be confiscated and destroyed. Alternatively, they can be deleted. ” The Federal Prosecutor emphasizes that the data has not been completely deleted, but is still available.
According to Niggli, it is also “permissible” and “reasonable” that passages have been blacked out in the penalty order which, according to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, contain “accusations withdrawn as untrue”. But it remains in the dark, which is why the matter escalated as it escalated.
Published: 11/22/2020, 10:32 PM-
